(fra kommisjonsforordningen)

(1) Commission Regulation (EU) No 321/2013 lays down the technical specifications for interoperability relating to ‘rolling stock — freight wagons’ subsystem of the rail system in the Union (‘WAG TSI’). 

(2) Commission Delegated Decision (EU) 2017/1474 sets out specific objectives for the drafting, adoption and review of technical specifications for interoperability. 

(3) Pursuant to Article 5(4) of Delegated Decision (EU) 2017/1474 the WAG TSI are to ensure consistency and avoid any overlap with the Regulations concerning the International Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Rail (‘RID’) as regards technical requirements applicable to vehicles. 

(4) To achieve that objective, the European Union Agency for Railways identified technical requirements needing to be transferred from RID to TSI WAG as well as initiated a risk analysis to identify new requirements to be addressed 

(5) In order to harmonise the responsibilities and competences for vehicle authorisation, enhance transparency, improve the quality of the assessment and streamline administrative processes, those RID vehicle requirements should be transferred from RID to the WAG TSI. The assessments of the vehicle prior to authorisation should be performed by a notified body. 

(6) Following several incidents due to a failure to properly secure semi-trailers to the pocket wagon carrying it, several actions to develop solutions ensuring the safe loading, safe transport and overall safe operation involving semi-trailers carried on pocket wagons were initiated. Newly developed technical requirements such as a new interoperability constituent ‘device to secure semi-trailers on pocket wagons’, values and procedures to assess the locking force, indicators showing the locking status, as well as the respective marking on the wagon, should be included in the WAG TSI. 

(7) To ensure safe operation in high crosswind scenarios, it is also necessary to verify the newly developed requirement relating to the vertical upward locking force for the existing and already authorised wagons. This measure was identified by the ERA impact assessment as the least impactful because in case of lack of verification of the locking force for existing wagons, the resulting impact would be the need to exchange the device to secure semitrailers and, if this is not possible, to use another vehicle for the transport of goods other than semi-trailers. The compliance should be marked on the vehicle easily visible for respective parties monitoring or supervising the retroactive application. 

(8) As technologies specifically developed for freight rolling stock, such as the digital automatic coupling, provide different mechanical characteristics as well as digital functions, relating to freight monitoring but also to train protection and train control, it is essential that all requirements related to compatibility with trackside train detection equipment are complied with. The arrangements for integrating possible future requirements, such as the introduction of digital automatic coupling, to carry dangerous goods and equally non-dangerous goods with equivalent or higher safety level should therefore be laid down. 

(9) Furthermore, the Swedish specific case related to hot axle box detectors was reduced in scope, which enhances common requirements at EU level and thus benefits the vehicle authorisation process. 

(10) Under Delegated Decision (EU) 2017/1474, TSIs should indicate whether the conformity assessment bodies which were notified on the basis of a previous version of the TSI need to be re-notified, and whether a simplified notification process should be applied. The amendments introduced by this regulation do not require specific new competences for the conformity assessment and therefore no re-notification of the conformity assessment bodies for the purposes of Commission Regulation (EU) 321/2013 is necessary. 

(11) The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Committee referred to in Article 51 of Directive (EU) 2016/797.